Buyers know the score at Blackrock Road where €695k Lohengrin is set to hit the high notes
Lohengrin, Blackrock Road, Cork
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Blackrock Road, Cork City |
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€695,000 |
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Size |
138 sq m (1485 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
3 |
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Bathrooms |
2 |
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BER |
D1 |
HITLER was busy kick-starting World War 2 when Lohengrin, a Blackrock Road home, was built in 1939.
Its first owner was the paymaster general at the Cork plant of the Ford Motor Company and you’d have to think that buying a house as the factory entered a period of instability was unfortunate. Vehicle assembly ceased in 1941 as the war dragged on, with Ireland unable to get supplies due to limited access to shipping. Who knows what stresses or strains this placed on the new resident of fashionable Blackrock Road.
Perhaps he had savings to carry him through, as company CEO Henry Ford was known for his generous wages. Or perhaps he dealt with the stress by listening to opera. The name of his home, Lohengrin, would suggest a passion for Wagner, who, coincidentally, was also one of Der Führer’s favourite composers. The dramatic sounds and German heroic myths of his compositions are said to have fuelled the dictator’s delusions of grandeur. One historian described the composer’s work as “background music for megalomania”. We’ll never know for sure why the Ford worker called his home Lohengrin, but it’s a surefire conversation starter at any future dinner parties new owners of the house might host. For pub quiz nuts, Lohengrin is the origin of the top-choice bridal chorus, Here Comes the Bride, and the opera itself tells the story of a mysterious knight who swans in, literally, to help a lady in distress, on a boat drawn by a swan.
Operatics aside, while debate about the name of the bricks and mortar version of Lohengrin is all speculation, what is known is that the house, on the Ballintemple section of Blackrock Road, is one of a sextet of semi-ds built in 1939, by builders of the name Murphy. One of the six semis still remains in the ownership of the Murphy family. Murphys may have built elsewhere too as there are similar style homes in other parts of the city – five on the Douglas Road, near Elegance Florists, with the same, attractive, part-redbrick façade and striking arch around a recessed front doorway and more in the St Christopher’s area of Montenotte.
Lohengrin has been in the ownership of its now vendors since 1986 and still has its original look – in the original tiles of the hallway, in the dipped solid-wood doors, in the timber floors, the fireplaces and the banisters.
It’s bigger now though because they extended it in 1995, as most of the half dozen similar homes on the road have done - there’s a variety of extensions on display across the six, including two storey and single storey. Lohengrin has a single storey side extension which added a home office, and behind it a shower room, and beyond that again, a utility room with a door to the rear garden.
The house was also pushed out at the rear, well beyond the original kitchen, to create an open-plan kitchen, dining, living area with solid fuel stove, overlooking a raised deck above the north-facing garden.
It’s a terrific family space with plenty of glazing.
Back out in the hallway, there’s some storage tucked under the stairs, and on the opposite side to the extension is a bright living room, with a fireplace and a big bay window (one set of neighbours replaced the front bay with French doors and it looks good too).
Beyond the living room is a second reception room with original fireplace and a glass door that overlooks the kitchen. New owners might decide to use the middle room as a playroom and remove the dividing wall altogether to make the main open plan space even bigger. Or they might opt to retain this room eg as a teen den.
Upstairs, two of the bedrooms are doubles (good views from the rear up towards Montenotte) and the third is a box room.
A hotpress on the landing also has a hatch into the main bathroom. The attic has been converted and there’s a stairs up to it, with lots of storage options.
Out front, there’s off street parking for a couple of cars.
Selling Lohengrin, with a guide price of €695,000 is Der O’Riordan of Barry Auctioneers and he says it’s a smashing family home, ideally located for schools eg Crab Lane for primary, Ashton and Ursulines for secondary, or any of the city schools as the area is well served by buses. There’s a proliferation of nearby sports clubs: Cork Constitution (rugby) St Michael’s Tennis Club, Ballinlough Tennis Club, Blackrock “the Rockies” hurling and football club, three rowing clubs. The house itself is next door but one to a pharmacy and to Ballintemple Food Store, which has a deli, grocery, artisan foods and carry-out, while the popular Venue bar is also close by, as is Basil Market Deli. Leisure and recreation options are plentiful. The new Marina Park is on your doorstep, as is the Marina Market and the new Marina children’s playground, just beyond the Atlantic Pond and Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Continuing on down the Marina brings you to pretty Blackrock Village and several eateries and pubs and ono the Blackrock to Passage Greenway.
Mr O’Riordan reckons that the house, which new owners will probably upgrade, will attract lots of attention from families. The current owners, a family, are selling up as their children are reared and they are returning to their West Cork roots.
As it's the Blackrock Road, prepare to hit the high notes. Attractive family trade-up in great location.
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